About the Author: (from TheCollege Mathematics Journal, Vol. 31 (2000)) Ezra Brown professes mathematics at Virginia Tech, where he has been since 1969. The elliptic curve bug first bit him while he was in graduate school at Louisiana State, and has never really gone away. Although his main research has been in quadratic forms and algebraic number theory, he once wrote a paper with a sociologist. He loves to talk about mathematics and its history with anyone, especially students. He occasionally sings in operas, plays jazz piano just for fun, and bakes biscuits for his classes. He and his mathematical grandfather, L. E. Dickson, have the same birthday.

Subject classification(s): Algebra and Number Theory | Number Theory | Famous Problems | Mathematics History | Famous Problems